Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?. On the basis of our experiences, we describe the social elements that form the foundation on which the Virtual Community rely on.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the research in the field of Knowledge Organization, during the period of 1990-2002, focusing on the subject and the epistemology of these studies. The result shows that studies concerning representation, e.g. subjects such as classification, indexing and bibliographic description, are the most frequently researched areas throughout the period. Classification was more popular in the beginning of the period, but later bibliographic description, mostly with studies on metadata, became more visible, together with a growing interest in information retrieval. The theoretical discussions in the studies focused primarily on document analysis and the organization of digital documents.

By using the cyborg as a structural tool to analyze certain aspects of human interaction with what can be perceived as landscape or landscape architectural elements, this thesis seeks to explore the concept of the cyborg landscape in order to place human practice in the context of postmodern ideas of the end of true nature. Ever since human kind has externalized evo-lution by using tools and extending the body with technological inventions, we have also taken our surroundings out of their natural trajectory. Everything we do that is conditioned by the use of technology is altering that which we perceive as nature and natural. Since we have been doing this for millennia we have of course also altered our surroundings by the influence of technology.This thesis uses three examples of landscape or landscape architectural elements that are conditioned by the integration of technology to explore this practice through a postmodern model of analysis based on the concept and basic premises of the cyborg, or the cybernetic organism. A cybernetic organism is in short an organism that has functioning technological parts integrated into its system.

Detta kandidatarbete fokuserar på att undersöka aspekter som kan förstärka en användares upplevelse inom digitala spel. De aspekter som vi valt att fokusera på är användandet av Oculus Rift och Motion Capture då de tar upp viktiga punkter som Virtual Reality, närvaro och inlevelse i spel. Vi valde även att fokusera vår produktion mot skräckgenren då detta är ett område vi båda har stor passion för i diverse media. I vårt arbete har vi fått fram en hypotes om att spel som fokuserar på att lämna karaktären i ett tomt skal (ingen personlighet), lämnar en större chans för inlevelse hos spelaren då användarens egna känslor speglas på karaktären. Användandet av Oculus Rift och realistiska röresler via Motion Capture har en tendens att även stärka detta..

Humanity has always dreamed about a better world. These dreams has manifested themselves in the vision of Utopia - the good place, but also the non-existing place. Up until World War II man still wrote optimistic descriptions of this ideal world, and spread the idea through literature. In the aftermath of the atomic bomb and under the influence of the cold war, these publications seized to surface in literary surroundings. Despite this utopia did not die - it has only changed.

Our aim in this work has been to redesign ModernFamilies and make a user-friendly interface for people with aphasia. The focus has been to identify general issues they might face while using different technology and applications, in order to find better alternative design for ModernFamilies, with a focus on usability. To approach this issue, we used a qualitative method. Our study includes several interviews and observations preformed in conjunction with the AGNES project (AGeing in a NEtworked Society) and speech therapists. Aphasia requires simple design that in the same time gives them support to understand and use technology and different applications.

Most often when developing a new system there is a need get a functioning testtool up and running. Including time, cost and resources the solution isn?t always obvious, developing your own or buy one ?of the shelf?. The purpose of this thesis is to study how a general testtool for executing functional tests should be designed to be reusable, be based on recognized knowledge and be able to fast and simple be customized for different types of systems. Key functions from the litterature is presented and used in the design of a testtool prototype.

Efter fyra månader som ljudpraktikant på det svenska spelföretaget Starbreeze i Uppsala, var det dags att ta steget vidare i ytterligare fyra månader. Från ljuddesign till scriptning, idéer och tankar, samt en inblick i hur scriptning fungerar. Detta arbete handlar om framtagandet av en ljuddesign-prototyp åt ett externt företags framtida spelprojekt. En utveckling som från början var tänkt att öka kunskaperna om scriptning, och att skapa ett sammanhängande spelscenario, men som sedan utvecklades till att leda mycket längre. Förklaring: Ljuddesign = Ljudläggning av någon form, i detta fall spel. Scriptning = Enklare programmering, kan vara saker som händer eller saker man kan göra i spelet Nyckelord: Soundvolume 2.0, Starbreeze, ljuddesign, spel, sounddesign, 3D.

In many clinical applications, it is desirable to transmit sensor information wireless. In earlier research, investigation transmit ECG signal using Bluetooth, was performed. However, when Bluetooth has some drawbacks it is of interest to investigate alternative methods, one such method is ZigBee. Bluetooth has higher data rate speed (1Mbps) than ZigBee (250kbps). However, Bluetooth consumes more power.

Researchers today anticipate that in the near future, the majority of the owners of a smartphone will use it as a wallet, i.e. for contactless payment. The technology that enables contactless payment today is ?Near Field Communication? (NFC), which is increasingly embedded in smartphones. Applications like mobile payment between a phone and a terminal use NFC.

Almost all Swedes today have access to the Internet, if not through the home then via the library or work. Despite this, around 20% of the population stand outside the information society in that they lack in knowledge, assistive usability tools or positive attitude towards technology and its influence on society. The main factors influencing the digital divide in today's society are age, disability and education, while the main reason for staying outside seems to be disinterest.The question about digital inclusion is important as we now stand on the breaking-point between a society where the industry has had a prominent position for private as well as national economy and a digital society where access to the Internet is no longer about prestige, but where significant differences between users' knowledge levels can create a power gap. Gaps in access and use not only reflects already existing socio-economic conditions, but can also maintain and enhance these.It is crucial for the future expansion of Internet usage how today's non-users feel about becoming users. To understand what underlies the motivations not to use computers is one of the keys to get non-users to embrace becoming users.

Current technology offers many possibilities for remotecommunication. Nevertheless, people with cognitive and communicativedisabilities have limited access to common communication technology like textmessaging via a mobile phone. This study is part of the project Text messagingwith picture symbols - a possibility for AAC users and people with cognitiveimpairments. Semi structured interviews were used to investigate three menand four women?s experiences of using Windows mobiles with adaptedfunctions for text messaging.

In several cases, systems that have been developed have been very time consuming and cost a lot of money, but they still do not fulfil the users requirements and requests. To make new systems better, you have to find a way to communicate that allows the developers to understand the needs of the user. The aim for our thesis is to highlight the importance of communication in system development. To investigate this we have choosen to do a study of the real-estate system. The work methods that have been used include mock-ups and informal conversations with the user, who is employed by the Church of Sweden in Ronneby.

Syftet med denna studie är att uppmärksamma attityder till Teknik hos förskollärare, lärare, skolledare och näringslivsrepresentanter och försöka ta reda på tänkbara orsaker bakom dessa attityder för att se möjligheter och svårigheter i arbetet med ämnet. Den forskningsfråga jag kommer att försöka besvara lyder: ? Hur ser några ?tidigarelärare? förskollärare och representanter från näringslivet på barns tidiga möten med Teknik? De empiriska data som studien bygger på kommer från 83 enkäter och 2 intervjuer. Enkäterna besvarades av 28 förskollärare, 30 lärare och 25 anställda i näringslivet. Intervjuerna hölls med en person ur ledningen på ett större företag och en skolledare.

Current technology offers many possibilities for remotecommunication. Nevertheless, people with cognitive and communicativedisabilities have limited access to common communication technology like textmessaging via a mobile phone. This study is part of the project Text messagingwith picture symbols - a possibility for AAC users and people with cognitiveimpairments. Semi structured interviews were used to investigate three menand four women?s experiences of using Windows mobiles with adaptedfunctions for text messaging.